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Brush battles back from slow start Saturday in regionals

Beetdiggers to send eight to state

By Brandon Boles

Fort Morgan Times

Posted:
02/10/2018 10:06:28 PM MST

Brush sophomore Nick Wellen (bottom) waits for the referee's signal to move and try to escape from bottom position to start a period with Quentin Jiner of Weld Central in the 3A Region 2 tournament on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018 at Eaton High School. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

EATON — On day one of the 3A Region 2 tournament, the Brush Beetdiggers looked primed for a big weekend. With 10 wrestlers secured in the semifinals, things were looking up for the team entering Saturday

By early afternoon on day two, the mood was much different as Brush went 2-8 in the semifinal round.

Having to overcome their tough losses, the Beetdiggers still managed to get eight wrestlers qualified for the state tournament, the most by a team from Morgan County this year.

The semifinal round for Brush started with Colin Cole scoring the first takedown against Varrion Ciddio of Platte Valley at 120 pounds, only to be caught in the cradle and lose by fall late in the first period. Caleb Cox would answer with a 3-1 decision win over Riley Bornhoft of Sterling at 126, scoring a takedown in the first period and escape to neutral position in the second.

Two tough matches for Brush would follow with Hunter Forsythe and Oswaldo Nunez. Forsythe got taken down early and could not find a way to escape from bottom position in his match at 132 pounds. A few back points late led to an 11-2 majority decision loss against Tanner Baumgartner of Weld Central. Nunez looks to have a headlock secured to defeat Ariel Rodriguez of Eaton by pin but lost his grip and would go on to lose by decision 17-10.

Righting the ship briefly for the Beetdiggers was Wyatt Pfau with his win at 152 pounds, scoring a quick takedown and two near falls before finally getting the pin at the 1:34 mark. Jayde Queen (160), Nick Wellen (170), Chase Barnett (182) and Thomas Mettlen (195) all went on to lose their semifinal matches after the win by Pfau to end the tough round.

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Having already secured their spot at state, Cox and Pfau would represent the Beetdiggers in the Parade of Champions and were looking to add another regional title to their resumes. Cox would go first against David Pringle of Eaton. In a match that saw very few chances to score, it was Pringle who came through with the narrow 2-1 decision win, pushing Cox down to second place. Things were much better for Pfau against Hunter Branson of Holy Family as he scored the early takedown and won by fall at the 1:21 mark, a similar performance to his semifinal win.

For the eight wrestlers that were bounced to the consolation semifinals, five of them would go on to win and wrestle for third place. All five would punch their ticket to state as well. Finishing in third place were Nunez and Barnett, while Cole, Queen and Wellen each took fourth place.

The final wrestler that qualified for Brush was Ricky Mendez, who started the second day of regionals in the consolation bracket. As one of two wrestlers to lose their quarterfinal match Friday, Mendez opened with two consolation matches he had to win to stay in the tournament. A win by fall in 35 seconds and an 8-2 decision win would put him in the consolation semifinals against Mac Copeland of Bennett. Momemtum continued for Mendez with a win by fall to reach the third-place match. There, he would face Josh Yancey of Platte Valley, the wrestler who defeated him in the quarterfinals. Mendez would get his revenge with a 5-2 decision win to finish in third place at 145 pounds.

Finishing in fifth place for Brush was Mettlen and Forsythe. Both would not get the chance to wrestle back for a state bid, however, and just missed out. Austin Curtis made a run in the consolation bracket at 106 pounds to finish in sixth place. Erick Urbina also finished in sixth place at 113.

All of the work battling back in the consolation bracket did result in Brush finishing in second place in the team standings with 182.5 points. Eaton, who qualified 12 wrestlers to state, finished in first place with 265 points.

The eight state qualifiers for Brush is the most since the team sent nine wrestlers in 2015. A mix of veteran state wrestlers and newcomers will make for an intriguing appearance this season. The state tournament begins at the Pepsi Center on Thursday with first round matches

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